Kate, Kati, or Katherine

When I was in kindergarten, there were four girls in my class and three of them were named Katie. Finally, there was one who spelled it Kati and I thought, "Hmm, a way to be different!" I think it was a couple of years after that I officially made the change from Katie to Kati.

It's always an interesting barometer of how much people love me to see when they finally figure out that I spell it differently. How observant ARE my friends? Some of them, very. Some of them, not so much.

I had a conversation with my friend Matt one day. He noticed that my auntie calls me Kate and I told him that virtually all of my family do. He thought this was very weird. He says I'm obviously a Kati and definitely not a Kate.

My new uncle, Josh called me Kate for a while, but then stopped. I'm not sure why. Now that he's my uncle, I think he should take it up again....

And then there are the few and far between people who call me Katherine. And the fewer who actually get away with it. My mom does, naturally. (She also calls me Annie, being that my middle name is Anne.) And my choir teacher I let call me Katherine, although she was pissed off when she finally found out that I go by Kati. "Why didn't you EVER TELL ME?" I told her my name IS Katherine and I respond to it just as well as I respond to Kati.

I also had a teacher once who insisted on calling me Kathy and it made me nuts. I have nothing against the name Kathy, but it's not mine.... He was a nut.

Most people who call me Katherine, it comes out sounding condescending. I don't know why. When I stage managed in college for the first time, my Assistant Stage Manager's name was also Kati. (What are the odds?) So, I went by Katherine. The second time, she was IN the show, so once again... Both directors made "Katherine" sound like a bad thing. Granted, I didn't really get along with either one of them, so maybe it's just the connotations in my head.

My auntie occasionally calls me Katherine, but it sounds fine when she says it. And I occasionally call her Stinky. Just thought I'd insert that in here.

Sean calls me Katherine now and again, but with him it seems to be more of a term of endearment. I call him General and he calls me Katherine.

It was strange, when we filmed the teaser for The Whisperer in Darkness, he called me Katherine when I got there and then our Director of Photography, who only vaguely knew me, called me Katherine himself a few minutes later and it was weird to hear him doing it. He eventually picked up that I go by Kati to everyone else and switched over.

It's a very strange dynamic, I think, and as long as no one calls me "Kathy," we'll be fine.